Family, Now and Then
by Solaced Whimsy
Summary: It's been such a long time since Sora has seen his baby sister...now that he's finally got the chance, his greatest hope is that Orihime is happy and safe in the human world.  Set Post-Storyline.


It may have taken a good handful of years, but finally, finally! Inoue Sora could go and see his sister just one more time. Before she herself was in Soul Society-but he preferred not to think of that. She had a long life ahead of her, and according to the shinigami who was escorting him to the human world-Kurosaki Rukia-she was safe and sound and they wouldn't be seeing her here for a long time to come.  
Sora knew about the battle with Aizen Sousuke, he knew about what had happened to Orihime, he knew what she'd been through, through stories he'd heard, and when he'd gotten the chance to contact a soul reaper who knew her, he leapt at the chance. He was a near-graduation student at the academy right now; it wasn't like he could readily find chances like this. He just wanted to see her again, even if he couldn't talk to her, just to see his baby sister after all this time. It had been almost 15 years, after all.  
They were en route to Orihime's current residence when Rukia spoke up.  
"We can only be here for a moment. I may be a lieutenant for the 14th; but I'm overstepping bounds as it is." Without looking up, Sora nodded silently. Rukia put a hand on his shoulder. "Orihime would be proud of you, and she would love to see you too. One day, maybe you'll be able to come here on your own."

They had arrived; arrived in a small rural town outside of any large city, where woods lined the hilly countryside and it looked like urbanization was a myth. Heading towards Orihime's home, they looked around curiously, unseen by any humans around them. This place was bright, peaceful, quiet. It looked like a place Orihime belonged.  
Nearing her new home, an old remodeled inn outside of even the small town, Rukia realized it had been a long while since she'd seen her old friend either. How different was she now, after these six long years?  
The house was lovely. A large, two-story old-style building with large lawns and a garden to the back, with a koi pond too. The windows were open-most of the ones they could see, at least, and from inside the building they could hear a female's voice humming quietly.

Masking their reiatsu and staying out of sight, they peered into the room the humming was coming from, to see a pretty young woman in her kitchen making what looked like a pie. Her long auburn hair hung over her shoulder in a long braid, and as she rolled out a large mass of dough, they saw a look of surprise come over her spotted-with-flour face, and watched as it faded to a happy smile, and a hand went to her stomach over her white sundress.  
It was her brother's turn to be shocked now; and Rukia looked surprised herself. Here she was, after all these years.  
A 23 year-old Orihime; just as pretty as they remembered and very pregnant.  
Sora looked from Orihime to Rukia and back, a look of disbelief on his face as the two shinigami watched the woman in the kitchen rub her round tummy, smiling to herself.  
"Oh what a little ball of energy you'll be." She sighed to herself. "Don't worry~! You'll be out of there soon enough! Daddy thinks maybe another week or so." She giggled, jumping slightly. "Take it easy, take it easy. Don't be so impatient, I have a part in this too, you know!" she laughed, patting her belly again and going back to her pie, resuming her humming.  
Moments later, there was a sound from around the front of the house and both shinigami jumped, while Orihime in the kitchen looked up suddenly, stopping what she was doing. Into the kitchen walked Ishida Uryuu, setting down a briefcase and finishing rolling up the second sleeve of a white button-down shirt. Orihime's face lit up as she moved to stand next to the now-older quincy, smiling warmly.  
"I would hug you, but you miiight get kicked." She laughed, and held up her powdery hands. "And there's this, too." the dark-haired man laughed quietly, leaning forward and kissing her, putting a hand on her stomach as he did.  
"Not much longer, 'Hime. Like I said, maybe a week." He looked down at her round stomach, smiling as he felt the baby himself. "We'll have quite the time dealing with this, won't we." It was Orihime's turn to lean in and plant a white-powdered kiss on his cheek. Outside, Rukia's arms were folded over the chest as she grinned knowingly. So Uryuu and Orihime...she'd always known it would happen sooner or later. Sora stared from his sister to the man with her now, watching them with interest.  
"I think it'll be fun. We've faced crazy soul reapers, hollows, arrancar, a man-made god, and your father. This might pose a small threat, but..." She grinned up at him, wiping a flour-coated thumb over his cheek. He took her hand in his, his face getting a bit more serious then.  
"I know. And I'm still grateful every day that you and I can be together now, Orihime." She smiled, leaning up on her toes to touch her forehead to his.  
"I am too, Uryuu. We've got the rest of our lives ahead of us, and soon," She looked down again, a hand over his on her tummy. "Soon, we'll have a family. The past is the past-even as exciting as it was." She said with a light laugh. He grinned, shaking his head as she stood flat on the floor again. "We'll have to train a new superhero now too, you know. Of course if it's a boy, then I can't really pass my hairpins on to him, that would be kind of weird. But oh! Oh Uryuu he or she will probably have Quincy powers like you!" She was getting excited again, practically hopping up and down like a little girl, until he sat her down at the small table nearby.  
"Calm down Orihime." He laughed. "We'll deal with that when we get there." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "One step at a time-between you and the baby, I don't know which one's going to cause more trouble!" She made a face at him.  
"Oh shush. I bet Ryuuken would be happy to have a little Quincy grandson." Uryuu rolled his eyes good-naturedly, glancing over at the counter.  
"Cooking?"  
"A pie! I thought it would be nice to have something sweet."  
"You always think so."  
"Well I'm always right, aren't I?"  
"...Yes, of course you are."  
"You had to think about it!"

Outside the window, Inoue Sora was grinning in at his baby sister, a large smile on his face. She never did change, did she...  
"Orihime if you keep staying as active as you've been that baby's going to be here sooner than you think." She laughed.  
"Well, I'll try to sit down more. But you know, there's that time before the baby's born where I'll have all kinds of energy, too." He nodded.  
"I know, I know. But if you don't rest now, how will we know when that is? I worry, Orihime, you know I do." She smiled.  
"I guess so. But Uryuu, we'll be okay." She said suddenly, taking his hands. "We'll be totally fine. The baby will be totally fine. You and I will come home and have a son or a daughter and we'll laugh and get angry and sigh and cry and lose sleep and clean and clean and cook too. We'll have a family, and we'll have people over for visits, and we'll go visit your father, and we'll have birthday parties and days at the park and one day when we realize what kind of power our child has or doesn't have, we'll have a whole new journey to start on. The past is the past, the future is the future, and the present is the present-don't worry so much. We'll be okay." She kissed him again, arms wrapping around his neck, pulling him down to her until he knelt in front of her chair and she pulled back. "We always are, you and I. You're my strength, Uryuu, and I'll always be right next to you." He gazed up at her for a long moment, almost incredulous.  
"You are /my/ strength, Orihime. I'll never leave your side either. We've fought through things together...we always will. I promise you." She rubbed her nose with his.  
"I know we will, silly Quincy. We're unbeatable together!"

Outside the window, unbeknownst to Orihime, her older brother stood with Rukia, tears in his eyes as he watched his little sister and her husband interact. She had grown up so much, and she was still herself. His baby sister had a family now, she had a child on the way and a husband who loved her and who she loved too. He watched the two of them, and something inside of him knew he wouldn't need to worry about her anymore.  
They'd been caught up in their own thoughts outside of the house so long that they didn't notice Uryuu behind them before he spoke up.  
"It's been a while, hasn't it, Kuchiki-san." He raised an eyebrow behind his glasses, folding his arms and smiling wryly. "Or, I should say, 'Kurosaki-san', now." Rukia and Sora spun around.  
"Ishida!" Rukia gasped. "And yes, it is-how did you know?" He shrugged his shoulders.  
"News travels fast between old friends-my father does happen to be good friends with your father-in-law, you know." Rukia smiled.  
"I suppose that's true. It's good to see you again, Ishida-san." She nodded. "And I'm glad to see Orihime-chan is in such good hands." Uryuu nodded, but looked at Sora.  
"You...you're Inoue Sora, aren't you..." His eyes were wide. Sora nodded.  
"Yeah. Orihime's my baby sister. Thank you, Ishida-san, for taking care of her." He said, offering Uryuu a hand. "I love her dearly, and I wish I could have been there for her too; but I'm happy to see her so happy." Uryuu took the handshake, nodding and smiling.  
"I'm glad to hear it. I'll always keep her safe, Inoue-san. I promise you." Sora grinned.  
"I believe you. One day when I can...I'll come back and see my niece or nephew. If you can, though...could you let me know when the baby arrives?" He looked over at Rukia, who nodded, smiling.  
"I think we can work something out." She said. Uryuu nodded.  
"I'd be more than happy to. It's wonderful to meet you, Inoue-san." he said, bowing. Sora followed suit.  
"The same to you, Ishida-san. Keep her safe." Uryuu smirked.  
"You don't have to tell me twice." He turned to head back inside-but stopped. "She would be proud of you, too, Inoue-san." He said, turning back for a moment. "That's an Academy uniform, isn't it? She'd be proud of you for what you're doing in Soul Society." Sora looked surprised for a moment, and then smiled, looking like those words had really touched him.  
"Thank you, Ishida-san." Uryuu nodded, watching as Rukia and Sora turned to leave, Rukia waving goodbye and telling him she'd have to come visit again for the news soon enough.

The Quincy headed inside, feeling a warmth in himself that came out in his smile. Hopefully Sora would be able to visit them soon on his own-he knew Orihime would be overjoyed to see him.  
For now, though...he was content to oblige Sora's wishes, and when he found Orihime in the living room reading, he slid onto the sofa next to her, wrapping an arm around her snugly, and planting a kiss on her forehead. She looked up at him with a smile, raising an eyebrow questioningly before resting her head on his shoulder.

No, he would have no problem at all doing as Sora asked.

* * *

**A/N:** _Another fic request! This time for "A story about Sora, him going to see Orihime sometime in the future when she's settled down with Ishida." Oh I was happy to do this one; these two are absolutely adorable together; and I miss my days of super-shipping them. 3  
My apologies for anything OOC or canonically incorrect; especially the bit about Sora in the academy. My thought was that it would provide a more reasonable way for him to get to the human world without it being too 'Oh I JUST saw you in the Rukongai randomly out of nowhere when you were here for no apparent reason.' I think shinigami!Sora would be nice, too. 3 _


End file.
